g-mann17

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass. It's impossible to run a college football practice with over 100 guys on a 50 yard field, individual drills would be impossilbe, not to mention the kickers need a place to practice, and being that we have no goal posts on the grass space, that's impossible. If there's one position where practice on grass before a game on grass is an absolute must, it's kicking, and right now they have nowhere to do that. I've seen them practice kicking from the grass before. It's not that big of a deal. As far as "not enough room for a 100 guys", I would beg to differ. I can't even believe you're still on this topic. The practice facilities that we have access to are excellent, and all facilities have more use than just Varsity athletics. Are you joking?? You really think a 50 yard field is big enough to run a FULL TEAM practice??? It's a tight squeeze with different position groups running into each other's drills with a 100 yard field!! Most programs and all NFL teams have TWO outdoor fields for this very purpose, and the offense and the defense each take a 100 yard field. You do realize how many position groups there are that need space for individual drills don't you? QB's, RB's, OL, WR's, TE's sometimes split off, DL, LB's, Corners, and Safeties. You've obviously never played college football. A hundred yard field is a tight squeeze. A 50 yard field would be impossible. All I'm saying is that we built multi-million dollar facilities and didn't include a grass practice field, a standard of all college programs. Hell, Can't State has 3 of them. Find me one other school with facilities like ours that doesn't have a grass practice field. Heck, I bet every other school even in our crap conference has a grass practice field, regardless of what the quality of their facilities. Whether you think it will or not, the fact is is that it will make a difference when we play grass teams. Are you kidding me? We have an indoor facility, an outdoor facility (2 practice fields) an all weather game day surface (3 areas to practice) and a grass practice field (4 areas). I'm pretty sure you're aware that warm up drills can be run anywhere. You need the grass practice field (which we have) to practice kicking and run Team O and Team D for the whopping 2 games a year we play on grass. Not only that but you also have the infield of the track that you can use (5 areas). Unbelievable. You just want things to complain about I think. Trying to build in excuses. This isn't the old days, there is barely any difference between prograss (artificial surface) and real grass anymore. And like Zach said, the Rubber Bowl practice facilities also still exist (8 areas to practice, 5 grass 3 artificial).

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass. It's impossible to run a college football practice with over 100 guys on a 50 yard field, individual drills would be impossilbe, not to mention the kickers need a place to practice, and being that we have no goal posts on the grass space, that's impossible. If there's one position where practice on grass before a game on grass is an absolute must, it's kicking, and right now they have nowhere to do that. I've seen them practice kicking from the grass before. It's not that big of a deal. As far as "not enough room for a 100 guys", I would beg to differ. I can't even believe you're still on this topic. The practice facilities that we have access to are excellent, and all facilities have more use than just Varsity athletics.

I think it's because of the placement. I think when the dorms get built on Exchange, they will likely have some shops at street level.

? Not sure what you mean, they just don't turn the AC on until May. That's typical because of how the heating works, if they switch it off it takes a long time to get the steam heat back up and running.

You think Kest would be willing to coach the men's team too? haha jk sorry KD I think the attitude of the department is reflected in being able to retain coaches like Kest and Porter when the "big guys come calling"? This is awesome news, good luck Coach Kest, keep up the good work!

Right, and I think that's fine, but my only concern is in weeks where we play on the road at a "grass team", there's nowhere for this team to practice on grass (and yes, for those of you who have never played, the feel of grass and even field turf is very different, and when all you've gotten used to is playing on turf for the whole year and offseason, playing on grass can have a weird feel to it that our team should have the opportunity to get used to before gameday). There is a 50 yard grass practice field (well maintained) south of the other practice field. 820 feet away from the field house.

PG's: McNees, Hitchens, Abreu SG's: Roberts, McClanahan SF's: McKnight, Green, Diggs PF's: Cvetinovic, Egner, Euton C's: Zeke, Bardo Starters in the first spot. The forwards will be interesting, Egner can slash quite a bit so he could play some small.

For goodthts viewing pleasure, I present the future of UA's winters...

They could've still built the softball stadium where the turf field is now and put the entrance to the eventual "all sports plaza" on the OTHER side which would've been incredibly convenient being right next to multiple parking garages and all. I just think it was kind of silly to put a practice field that far away from the fieldhouse. The original plans called for 2 hundred yard fields, one turf and one grass, right up next to the fieldhouse, and this would've been great for both soccer and football, as it would've been basically connected to the football locker room and and a whole heckuva lot closer to the soccer lockerroom in the JAR. Poor poor planning if you ask me. You must be awfully lazy. If you think walking a very short par 4 to a field is "inconvenient".

Half a mile? Really? That field is all of 300 (818 ft to be precise) yards away at most. And it and the grass field south of it is also used by the Soccer team for practice. Not really a waste of money at all in my opinion. The wanted the entrances to all of the facilities in the same general area so they could have a single event plaza.

Understand something at the Rubber Bowl there was the president's suite (if you want to call it that) and he could have some guests. They had hard liquor up there. Why? Because those people expect it. The people who have made huge commitments to this program (millions of dollars) expect certain things, catering, alcohol, etc. You see it as elitist why? I see it as kissing the butts of people who made the whole thing possible. You want continued growth, you have to wine and dine people. Because the facility was on campus they had to specifically allow it, because they are a public university the information has to be made available. Otherwise, they would be doing it and you wouldn't even know about it. Everyone is complaining about alcohol in the suites and no beer in the stands but I haven't seen anyone complain about how they get Lobster and Shrimp and Cavier and we get nachos, stale Papa Johns, and Chic-fil-a. You want a beer, drink before the game like at every other university in the country. It's funny. The rank and file can't drink beer at the campus stadium but they can drink beer and hard liquor at the campus performing arts hall. At what EJ event did you have a beer or hard liquor during a show? They allow prior to the show in the lobby, and during intermission. It's much more controlled then the scenario would be at Infocision. You're talking 3000 people vs. 30000, and for the most part it's understood that tailgaters are already drinking. And it's for 3 quarters of the game. Vs. 30 minutes before the show and 30 minutes of intermission the at EJ.

Weather for Saturday now is 40's and mostly cloudy. Also if they decide to have it inside they would just throw up signs.

What part of "They are building a soccer stadium right now" did you miss? It's being built in phases, but it is being done. For the next season the playing surface will be lower, there will be more berm seating, the start of a plaza where the the soccer, softball, baseball and track meet, and new lighting will be installed. The following year they will build a new press tower, chairback seating, move bleacher seating onto the east berm and start building team rooms, restrooms and concession stands. Did you not even notice that every one of the soccer team's spring games were away this year? It's not because of weather, it's because the field is being dug up. Of course I know they have started to dig up the field. But I had read on here that they don't have the $$ yet, which is why it is being built in phases. That is why it is taking so long. I see no reason why they couldn't get it all done before the start of next season. My understanding was that they have the money and that is why they started. It's in Phases because the earliest they could do anything was after the soccer season (which means winter) and they hadn't finalized plans at that point. So you want them to build a 2-3 story tower with locker rooms, storage rooms, restrooms, concessions, plaza, berm seating, etc. in what is roughly 8 months? I just don't see that as feasible. I want it done as quick as you, but I thought the plan was pretty decent considering the two teams only have one place to play. If i'm coming off as a smart@$$ I apologize. I think we just had different expectations of what can be built in the time frame allowed.

Too bad our early season schedule is set up for failure. If playing Syracuse and Indiana means that we are setup for failure then we might as well give up and implode the new stadium. Those are two teams that are lower-mid level D1 programs. Kentucky is a stretch for us at this point in the programs current status, but we should be able to compete with the Kentucky's of the world. I 100% agree with you, but GP1 in 3...2...1...

What part of "They are building a soccer stadium right now" did you miss? It's being built in phases, but it is being done. For the next season the playing surface will be lower, there will be more berm seating, the start of a plaza where the the soccer, softball, baseball and track meet, and new lighting will be installed. The following year they will build a new press tower, chairback seating, move bleacher seating onto the east berm and start building team rooms, restrooms and concession stands. Did you not even notice that every one of the soccer team's spring games were away this year? It's not because of weather, it's because the field is being dug up.

You miss the point of the spring game (and I don't know that other schools charge, you'd have to show me that somewhere) the spring game is about accessibility of the team to the fans. You charge for this and non shows up. It's a "hey look at the future of your team" and a "we know you're hungry for football so here's a taste".

It's certainly not the Amish. Says you. English! Well put, Paradise Z.I.P. Probbably most readers on ZN do not know that the term "English" is what the Amish call the rest of us. As for the Amish, this Catholic boy is thinking declaring himself Amish to get out of the insane Obamacare non-heathcare system. That's all well and good, but let's see how fast that horse and buggy get you to the hospital when there is an emergency. Pretty sure God will heal them.

Understand something at the Rubber Bowl there was the president's suite (if you want to call it that) and he could have some guests. They had hard liquor up there. Why? Because those people expect it. The people who have made huge commitments to this program (millions of dollars) expect certain things, catering, alcohol, etc. You see it as elitist why? I see it as kissing the butts of people who made the whole thing possible. You want continued growth, you have to wine and dine people. Because the facility was on campus they had to specifically allow it, because they are a public university the information has to be made available. Otherwise, they would be doing it and you wouldn't even know about it. Everyone is complaining about alcohol in the suites and no beer in the stands but I haven't seen anyone complain about how they get Lobster and Shrimp and Cavier and we get nachos, stale Papa Johns, and Chic-fil-a. You want a beer, drink before the game like at every other university in the country.

Yep that's me, I like to stomp on progression. In fact I am so angry that they turned Carroll St into some kind of outdoor living room that I've continuously petitioned to have either an arena or street placed there. A major portion of the campus without a street? Blasphemy. No Jake, all I was saying is, I would love to see the information on how they would turn parts of Exchange into a mall and have it not effect the accessibility of the new deck. I never said "down with progress". If you would read what people say and then form an opinion instead of forming an opinion and then reading for things that support that opinion, you would do so much better in here. The "mall" could probably start at grant. Getting to the garage would be easy from Wolfs Ledges and W. exchange. The idea might actually work well. I know it is only half of the south edge of campus but it would encompass the worst part of exchange while allowing access to the new garage area. I know Jake will like where the arena is listed. Pedestrians crossing from the new dorm area would also see much less traffic and lower speeds directly in front of the exchange residence hall due to the dead end. I would hope that most would cross in the newly created pedestrian area though. Half of the "new area for development" is already developed. The majority of that area is the Stadium and the rest is designated to other projects (dorms). I personally thought a reroute would create a curve near the stadium directing traffic onto Brown, and then another curve with a light to shoot people around to Wheeler, you run Wheeler through to Grant. Then Exchange would be a Mall between Sumner and Brown. The problem being that a lot of businesses exist that would not take too kindly to reduced flow.

His momma called him Cassius, I'm gonna call him Cassius.

Did someone say something about ramblings? No, someone said something about incessant ramblings.

Yep that's me, I like to stomp on progression. In fact I am so angry that they turned Carroll St into some kind of outdoor living room that I've continuously petitioned to have either an arena or street placed there. A major portion of the campus without a street? Blasphemy. No Jake, all I was saying is, I would love to see the information on how they would turn parts of Exchange into a mall and have it not effect the accessibility of the new deck. I never said "down with progress". If you would read what people say and then form an opinion instead of forming an opinion and then reading for things that support that opinion, you would do so much better in here.

Thanks for the link. The MAC should be thinking about contraction and not expansion. Getting back to one of the points I have been making about college football. BCS schools need their own division. It's laughable that teams "upgrading" to D-IA are considered to be a the same level as BCS schools. It's such a farce I can't believe people even take it seriously. If the NCAA would realign the divisions and create one more, I think it would be better for everyone because schools could better compete at their ability level and they wouldn't need to have schools "upgrading" into a level where they can't perform well at the highest level. On the surface, this looks like a good rule, but under the surface, it really does nothing to improve college football. Someone must have really been hungover that day at the NCAA convention. What's laughable is your incessant ramblings on College elitism and BCS superiority and contraction as the country and number of youth continue to expand. You continue to sound like the "Jake" of reforming college athletics. "Make it semi-pro, let the money schools compete against each other, we should know our place."

Auto bids will remain the same. One per conference given to the winner of the conference tourney. The regular season champion still gets nothing, but has a chance for an at-large. Well first nothing is set in stone, second most of the coaches (including Coach K) supports the idea as stated. Coaches opinions have nothing to do with the proposal. The powers at be have not even considered and will not consider giving conferences two auto bids. Keep in mind that the conferences already have the option of awarding the automatic bid to the regular season champ so the NCAA really doesn't have any reason to switch. It is important to note that the NCAA mandates for all sports tournaments that the number of at large teams be equal to or greater than the number automatic bids. If you give an auto bid to both the regular season and a tourney champion, that brings the total auto bids to 62 which won't work with a 96 team field. Conferences dictate who participates in their tourney's, so the regular season champ in that scenario would likely not even participate in conference tourney to ensure that the conference got two bids. It's just not going to happen. Where's that rule? The current system is 65 teams there are 33 conferences each receive at least one auto bid.

Honestly, how could anyone believe that he would go to the Knicks or Nets? The guy is so focused on winning that he would never go to two of the worst teams int he league and start all over again. Maybe if they signed Kobe, DWade, and a decent big guy first then LeBron would think about it. Basically, you're kidding yourself if you think there is any chance that LeBron will go to either of those two teams. You're also kidding yourself if you think this guy wouldn't win anywhere he goes. He only wins if he has the right core of people. Look at it when he was with Ricky Davis and those Cavs...